Unknown Helper

Katrina wakes in a partially built bed, she sits up and gets herself positioned in a way so that if anyone she didn't recognise charged into the room wouldn't have an enjoyable experience, she looks around the room that she is in to see that it is Raymonde's room in the tavern, as she began to be more relaxed the door handle begun to twist and turn, the door swings open, Raymonde steps through the door.

"By the Gods Raymonde," she says sounding panicked, "you scared the living daylights out of me."

"Gods, you are awake." He replies walking towards the bed at a quickened pace, "I thought you weren't going to wake." Katrina looks at him confused.

"What do you mean?" She says looking at him worried as he sits on the edge of the bed.

"You have been out for four days, and any longer we were going to have to leave without you." He says placing a hand on her covered leg.

"Leave? Where are you going?" she says throwing the covers off her, "Why to leave without me?"

"Because if we bring you along while you were unconscious, it could have been a liability." He states getting closer to her, "But since you are awake you can come along. Let's keep this between us, if I am being honest it wouldn't be the same without you and spending over a week on a boat with Llorva and Lorxan would be hell." She lets out a quiet giggle, he leans in and kisses her.

----

In the tavern, the Dirty Mind, Llorva and Lorxan are at a table eating breakfast.

"How have you been in the last… how long has it been?" Lorxan asks Llorva while taking a bite of a large ham leg.

"Too long," Llorva replies while taking a drink from her flask, "the real question is, how long have you been a guard for Xam?"

"Shortly after I left Kram to go to Xam. As soon as the boat had pulled into the docks I was summoned to the Lords' house," he continues, while taking a bite of his food, "when I had arrived there, that is when I have been appointed the role of the guard."

"That is better than how I became a royal guard." Llorva states, "My story is way less interesting."

"Tell me," Lorxan says sounding intrigued, "tell me how you became a royal guard of Kram."

"Well the only reason I am a guard is because of my father, you know my father, right?" Llorva asks.

"Yes, I know who your father is." He replies, leaning in looking interested

"So you should know what his title is, that is the only reason I am a guard." She says looking at her food pushing it towards the middle of the table, "I've lost my appetite." As she declares this she looks towards the stairs and sees Raymonde and Katrina descending them, "Look who's awake." She says standing up and beginning to walk towards them.

"She only woke this morning," Raymonde replies to Llorva who is now lending a shoulder for Katrina to lean up against.

"What happened to me?" Katrina asks them as they head towards the table at which Lorxan is seated, they give each other a concerned look.

"Well…" Llorva begins but gets cut off by Raymonde.

"Well, do you remember that we took you to see Melnir?" He asks Katrina, she gives a nod, "Well when we took you there you passed out, and the next time you woke blue light began to leak out of your eyes…"

"And your skin began to glow a transparent blue," Llorva adds.

"And your skin began to glow a transparent blue," he says gesturing towards what Llorva had said, "and after you were completely encompassed in flames and passed out again, Melnir handed Llorva a hammer." He says while pulling the hammer from his bag, "This is the hammer he gave her, and I thought it should belong to you since you are the one who helped him forge it." He hands the hammer to Katrina.

"Are you sure you want me to have this hammer, considering I am not that good with blunt weapons," She says holding the hammer back towards Raymonde, he pushes it back towards her.

"That hammer belongs to you, you should be the one to have it." He says putting his hands on hers, "this could be your payback to Khoysus." As he says his name Katrina's eyes go wide.

"How could it be my 'payback'?" She says sounding confused, as blue light begins to flicker in her eyes, "How could a hammer give me payback?" She stares deep into his eyes, she can see flickers of red soak through them.

"I am willing to help you get your revenge on your uncle," he says still holding her hands, "for forcing your father to abandon you and your mother when you were just a child." Katrina looks towards the ground, her gaze is interrupted when Raymonde comes into view.

"Okay." She says with a quietened voice, Raymonde lays his index finger and thumb on her chin and lifts her head to face his, "Okay, I will do it."

"Are you sure?" He says giving her a loving expression, "Because if we do this," he continues, "to do this we need weapons that can kill a god." He realises Katrina's hands from his grip and stands.

"And I know exactly where to get one." Llorva says breaking the connection between Raymonde and Katrina. Everyone stops and glares over to her, "On the top of Mount Weystone, lays a sword of ice and fire, named Frostburn," she continues sitting down at the table and gesture for everyone to sit, "legend has it that Aas, your father," she points towards Katrina, "forged this weapon out of Abyssal Platinum, found at the bottom of the Frozen Abyss."

"Wait," Raymonde cuts in, "how do you know all of this information?" He asks Llorva, everyone looking stumped.

"Didn't your parents tell you about the stories of how the gods made a few weapons that can kill them and destroy the plinth they stand upon?" she asks them, looking and each of them to get an answer.

"Um," Lorxan begins but is cut off immediately by Raymonde.

"Most of us didn't have the pleasure to hear bedtime stories," he starts, slightly raising his voice, "some of us had spent most of our childhood lives on the run," his eyes begin to glow red, "well I only speak for two of us when I say this but, we have been on the run for FIFTEEN YEARS!" The tavern goes quiet, Raymonde stands from his seat and heads towards the stairs.

"Now look at what you have done!" Katrina screams at Llorva and follows Raymonde.

"What did I say," Llorva says to Lorxan who simply shrugs his shoulders, "how did I offend them so much?"

"Whatever it was," begins Lorxan, "it was the wrong thing to say." Llorva walks out of the tavern, Lorxan promptly finishes his meal and follows her.

----

Late in the afternoon, Katrina finds herself pacing the room she had entered early in the day, she paces for ten minutes before Raymonde barges through the door and hastily closes it behind him.

"Why the quick entrance?" she asked Raymonde but without getting a reply Raymonde grabs her hand.

"We need to leave Kram," he says, Katrina looks at him confused, "like now!" he screams, and in a blink of an eye she runs to the table at the side of the bed and grabs what she can hold and stuff it all into one of her bags, Raymonde does the same.

"Why do we have to leave?" she asks him while grabbing her hammer and heads for the door.

"I'll explain on the way out," he replies as he finishes stuffing his gear into a bag, "but we need to get going." They exit the door and run towards the stairs, as they reach the stairs the ceiling above it collapses in on itself, "Katrina this way," Raymonde says grabbing her hand as they run towards a closed window.

"Raymonde? I don't think this is a good idea," Katrina states, "Raymonde!" she yells as he picks her up off her feet and jumps through the window back first, they hit the ground hard, so hard Raymonde is rendered unconscious.

"I thought you guys were coming through the front exit," a voice echoes through the alley, Katrina turns to see who it is, "can you walk?" the figure asks.

"I can, but I can't say the same for him," she points to the unconscious body of Raymonde, "who are you?" she asks him as he walks over to Raymonde and picks him up from the ground.

"I'll tell you when we get out of the city," as the figure says this Katrina takes a glance at the city in front of her, it is burning, the city is in chaos, she runs to the open street where she spots Llorva and Lorxan running towards the tavern

"Llorva! Lorxan! This way it's Raymonde he isn't looking too well!" she screams across the street towards them and turns to see the figure holding him in their arms, "are you here to help, or are you here to hurt?" she asks them.

"I am here to help, Katrina," he says, Katrina stumbles back not expecting her name to be voiced.

"Isake?" She asks but without getting a reply Llorva and Lorxan run into the alley, "It's okay he is here to help, aren't you?" She says to the man, he simply nods and gestures for them to follow him.